Court hears how collapse of wall claimed life of three year old girl in Wales

It has been reportedby the BBC that builder George Collier, of Kinmel Bay, Conwy is denying charges of manslaughter during an ongoing trial at Mold Crown Court. Three-year-old Meg Burgess died when a wall designed by the building company director collapsed on her as she walked with her mother in Meliden, Denbighshire, in July 2008.

Her mother Mrs Burgess told the court:

“I was walking along and she was trotting behind. I turned around to look how beautiful she was and she was about a couple of metres away from me. She looked up at me and it (the wall) all just came down. It all came down at one go, it engulfed her. Her head was the only thing not covered. There were broken stones over her body.”

The BBC state that the court was told Mr Collier had not taken appropriate advice, the wall was not built to the correct standard and that he had not obtained a report from a structural engineer.

Mr Collier, joint director of Parcol Developments, had personally used an excavator to back fill a large amount of material behind the wall, putting pressure and strain on the wall which had not been built to act as a retaining wall.